[Thermal Paste] How/what and where to buy?

Hi

WARNING: I'm a complete noob! I know verry little about thermal paste etc.

I'm new in this large comunity and don't know if this is the right section to post this.

I have the folowing notebook:
Acer Aspire 5920G
Cpu: Intel Centrino: T7500 Dual Core ~ 2.2Ghz ...
(Cpu runs at 50°C idle and can go up to 90°C when stressed!)
GPU: Nvidia GeForce 9500m GS.
4 gigs ram.
300gb HDD.

SCROLL DOWN FOR MY NEW PROBLEM

Anyway, My questions are simple (I think, lol.) :

-First of all!: Is this possible? I mean, i know you're able to do this with normal computers, but i'm not sure if it's possible with a notebook/laptop.

-How can I apply Thermal paste onto my T7500 prosessor?
(Just squirt and spread? Or what?)
-Is this a good way to lower my CPU temperatures?
-What's the best Thermal Paste? I've heard something about Artic Silver 5?
-And last but not least: Where can i buy this?



RESULTS OF UNDERVOLTING (T7500 @ 2.2~)

BEFORE:



AFTHER



TEMPS NOW -.-

Read on page 5 to know what i did, and where i went wrong/messed up.



I need help with:

-How to disasseble the heatsink/gpu card/(maybe whole motherboard out of my laptop case?)
-How to make sure nothing is going to overheat etc.

 

well when I got my laptop it reached 85C in 1min running ORTHOS.
after I change the thermal paste to some coolermaster paste (since it's what I had) the maximum temp went to 74C.
I did spread the paste evenly and on both the CPU and the heatsink. I made the thinnest layer that I could and the most even layer.
Also before I did that I removed the old paste with some metholated spirits.

Now I went to the undervolting thread and followed the instructions, the maximum temp now is 62C. Right now the temp is 32C, and the laptop is on my lap so the air vent on the bottom is blocked.

Edit:
I took my volts from:
6x 0.8500V
7x 0.9500V
8x 1.0357V
9x 1.1375V
10x 1.2375V

to:
6x 0.8500V
7x 0.8500V
8x 0.8625V
9x 0.9125V
10x 0.9750V

Edit: BTW my CPU is a T7300 @2ghz

 

I'm not sure if i can 'under-volt' i'll check it in a minute tho, thx for the reply

 

i got a few hassle free solutions for u.

1. Buy a notebook cooler.

2. Raise ur laptop and blow air below it using a big fan
usually keeps ur laptop very cool. Does a good job with mine.

 

Anyone can undervolt. Check out the guide in this forum; it gives you everything you need to know and all the tools.

Thermal paste is a good way to lower CPU temperatures, but keep in mind that it probably voids your laptop's warranty if anything goes wrong. If you're careful, though, nothing wrong will happen. I recently sent my laptop in to Dell with thermal paste on the GPU and CPU, and they never noticed, or didn't care.

Arctic Silver 5 is an excellent choice for thermal paste. OCZ Freeze is fantastic as well. Either of these should do the job quite nicely.

 

The best one is ICD7. I thought my temperatures were already fantastic with the stock paste from Asus. It was 59 degrees at load for the CPU and 64 degrees at load for the GPU. ICD7 brought the temperatures down to 54 degrees and 59 degrees respectively.

most thermal pastes will want you to make a VERY small line down the CPU core, the size of a rice grain. ICD7 says that the best way for notebook CPU's is to make a ball of paste 3mm across in the middle of the CPU core, and put the heatsink back on it. The heatsink will flatten the ball and spread the paste around.

here's the link to it:

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7...hermal_Compound_-_15_Grams.html?tl=g8c127s754

This tube will last for about 3 desktop CPU applications or around 5-6 laptop CPU applications. It's 94% diamond so it's a bit on the expensive side, but nothing crazy. Is it worth it? Definitely.

Edit:
That one's out of stock. Here's the bigger tube.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7...hermal_Compound_-_48_Grams.html?tl=g8c127s754

It's 3.5x bigger than the other one.

 

^Yeah, application is different for desktop CPU's, which usually have their own heat spreaders, and mobile processors, which are generally bare-die. With the heat spreaders, you have to spread paste a lot more. With bare dies, you may not even need to spread due to the relatively small surface area.

 

@sean473 : Actually i have a notebook cooler, but it doesn't do sh*t.
I always raise my laptop when i can (and when im not using the cooler >.>) to maximize the air circulation.

@Mastershroom: Thx for replying, ill check out the undervolting, see if that actually helps. BTW: what do you mean with "bare die" ?

@avanish11 : Well you said something about making a ball (3mm) and then just put the heatsink back on it.. the thing is: im not sure where exacly my cpu is located. I recently removed my backplate to remove any dust particles to make sure there's a smooth air flow, and when i looked closely, i was able to see my cpu without a heatsink on it.. now i might be wrong..
Would it help if i posted a picture of that?

And also, is applying thermal paste a risky action? Is it conductive? Will it damage my motherboard if i mess up?

Grtz, and thx for the help, alot of my questions are answered already

 

ICD isn't risky to use at all. It's not conductive, but the Arctic Silver 5 paste that everybody keeps recommending IS conductive... This is the one reason why I don't use/recommend it.

Before you apply the new paste, you'll have to remove the old stuff. Get a bottle of isopropyl alcohol 90% purity or higher, and put it on a paper/fiber coffee filter to use to wipe off the old paste from both the CPU and the heat sink.

The CPU should be fairly easy to find. If you don't see it with the bottom of the computer's case taken off, you might have to take out the keyboard and check to see if the CPU is there. If not, well, then we have a problem because you HAVE no CPU

 

lol thx for the advice,

Indeed i read on these forums that Artic Silver is conductive and not THAT much better then the others (For example the one you recommend)

I'll order some tomorrow.

Right now im doing stresstests to see if my Undervolting is stable.

Right now i decreased the max temp from 92°C to 80 °C by changing the max volt from 1.237 to 1.100.

I'm still lowering the values and running tests, I'm hoping to get it somewhere around 70-75 max, that would be great. Then when i applied the paste im hoping to reach something from 65 to 70. =)

 

Since i live in Belgium, it would be stupid to ship that to here for a cost of 50$... so

this is what i found from a reseller closer to me:

http://www.highflow.nl/toebehoren/k...-cooling-diamond-7-carat-koelpasta-1-5g-.html

Would this do the job? and is the 7 karat alot different then the 24 karat? And lastly is 1.5g enough?

Thx.

 

Honestly, the differences btw most known thermal pastes aren't more than a few degrees. In the US, you can get a top brand for $3 on special. As long as you follow the instructions, the electrical conductiveness is a minor issue.

 

But i've read that innovative cooling (the company) claimed to have made a paste that has 4 times more thermal conductivity then the silver paste. And the price is also the same so..

I'm not sure what i should order actually, i might just go with the artic silver 5 as its one of the most used/available. Though i'm a complete newb, and i don't want to mess up my cpu/Motherboard of anything goes wrong, and in that case the Diamond seemed a better option cause it's non-conductive.

Anyway, ill think about it.

Thx for reply

 

That would do it. Both the 7 and 24 carat tubes are the same exact thing, just different sizes. 1.5 grams would be enough to replace about 5-6 laptop CPU's thermal pastes.

 

Okay well now i've found the excellent volt value!

Max temps of 73-75 °C which i think is amazing! (20°c drop!)

I'll order the paste tomorrow, i've looked up some techniques on how to apply this 'thermal paste'.

It seems pretty easy, but i'm not sure if i have a heatsink on-top of my cpu.

Again: If i post a picture of the inside of my laptop, would you be able to locate the cpu for me? (LoL)

anyway, its getting late, i'll be on tomorrow.

Thx alot for the help so far! It's amazing how helpfull this comunity is!
I'm certainly not regretting that i registred here!

Grtz~

 

yes your CPU will have a heatsink.
And yes, if you wan't we can locate the CPU from a picture.

while you have it open you can also change the thermal paste on the GPU.

Edit: also clean out the dust from the heatsink, and other areas.

 

okay, opening it now, taking picture, posting soon.

 

This is the inside, could anyone locate my cpu?

thx.

 

I think that the cpu is under the gold colord heatpipe, here is a pic of what I think:
http://s896.photobucket.com/albums/ac167/moral_HaZaRd/thermal/

the fan would probably have to come out too.

After you lift off the heatsink, you will probably see a CPU and a GPU next to each other.

somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Here is a nice round up...

http://hardwarelogic.com/news/137/ARTICLE/2752/1/2008-03-03.html

And the CPU should be under the cooper heat pipe somewhere! Make sure you won't void your warranty.

 

okay thank you.

Is there any guide on the forum on how to apply thermal paste, For notebooks? (maybe specific for 5920G?)

I've tried the search button but didn't find anything..

Thx

 

use a card to smooth out a very thin layer into the CPU, then do the same for the heatsink. also you may wan't to do it to the GPU. that's how I did it.
Make sure the layer is very very thin.

 

Is the diamond paste safer then the silver? Cause the silver one is conductive, and if i mess up or spill a bit on the motherboard things might get nasty..

 

I think the diamond is not only safer but it also has better thermal properties.

 

While diamond has better thermal properties, I honestly doubt the paste has a significant amount of diamond to make much difference. But if it's the same price, go for it.

 

AS5 is not the best thermal paste anymore, although it is up there.

Many of the top thermal pastes are pretty close in performance, but the AS5 is conductive, which could short something out if you're not careful. But its pretty uncommon.

I use Tuniq TX-2, which is better than AS5 and I think close to be being the best and its not conductive.

Here's the best way to apply:

1: Clean cpu and heatsink with 99% alcohol
2: Apply small amount on cpu and heatsink
3: Wipe away thermal grease (dont use alcohol)
4: Apply thermal grease (grain of rice) on cpu only. (Pea size for Desktop cpu)
5: Remount heatsink

The reason for step #3 is because when you do this, you fill micro imperfections in the heatsink/cpu.

Also, you may notice that I didn't suggest spreading with a credit card/razor blade. This is because it has been proven more effective to let the heatsink spread it from its pressure, than to spread it yourself.

This is the very best way to apply thermal grease, other than lapping the heatsink yourself, which I would advise against as it is a lot of labor.

 

Diamonds win

Anyways, here's NBR's official thread for ICD7.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=372333

 

If you want a cheaper and safer alternative to Arctic Silver 5, try Arctic Silver Ceramique. It does about the same job as AS5, without the slight capacitance.

 

how can spreading it be worse than just letting the heatsink do the work?
Do you have a link to the proof?

 

+1. Also doesn't have the huge curing time of AS5, and as you said, it costs a lot less.

 

According to Arctic Silver's website, they said that letting the heatsink spread out the TIM on the heatspreader reduces the chance of air bubbles forming between the heatsink and TIM. I do not think this applies to CPUs with a small exposed core with no heatspreader.

 

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=37&threadid=2139377

"Since we have already established that placing a dollop in the middle of the CPU and letting the heatsink spread it out when it is installed is the best method, this guide will just explain the intricacies of that method." - Anandtech Forums

Proof
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&number=5&artpage=3071&articID=635

Some people are still using the old method of spreading it with a card/razor blade and have not kept up with the times. Spreading by mounting the heatsink is the definitive way of applying thermal compound.

 

ok, I will do it your way now.

 

Same: ill do it like that now,

but, how can you know if you put too much on it then? cause when you spread it manually you can see if you put too much and just remove it.. if you just put the heatsink on top again, things might get messy? Or am i wrong..

I don't know -.-

Anwyay, ill do some more research on how to apply, without taking risks damaging your motherboard.. I dont wan't to waste my laptop for some thermal paste.. it's just not worth it

Grtz.

 

Great thread guys, im learning alot here and will most likely be doing the same, can thermal pads be replaced with paste?

 

yes, it will give you better temps.

 

For laptops, the CPU likely has an exposed core and not an integrated heatspreader (IHS) like on desktops. I would probably just use the old razor blade/credit card method as the core is so small.

For desktops, there are varying methods to use since modern desktop CPUs have an IHS.

- Here is a method for a circular heatsink base: http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.p...sk=view&id=170&Itemid=38&limit=1&limitstart=3

- A square base: http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.p...sk=view&id=170&Itemid=38&limit=1&limitstart=4

- And a special Heatpipe Direct Touch (HDT) base: http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.p...sk=view&id=170&Itemid=38&limit=1&limitstart=4

 

i use zalman zm-stg1 has this brush to apply it easily (so it's noob friendly) and comes off better than as5 and is just as good as as5 (in keeping the temps low) imo.

 

More thermal paste shot outs.
http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1605&pageID=7121

 

I just got a new tube of Arctic Cooling MX-2 after reading several reviews of it.

In addition to cooling a bit better than class leading Arctic Silver 5, it has the following benefits:

- no curing time so you get maximum performance right away
- non-conductive: if you get some on some circuits, you will not cause a short
- durable (8 years lifetime)

Once I get my XPS M1330 back after motherboard replacement, I'll use it when I re-install my T8300 and copper-mod.

 

Arctic Cooling MX-2 and Tuniq TX-2 are two thermal pastes that are also better than Arctic Silver 5 in almost every way possible, except for taste (kidding )

I haven't used either of them yet, but I will be trying Tuniq TX-2 soon on my cousin's new computer.

 

I was in this same position when I first did the heatsink spread method. How I got the right amount was to mount the heatsink twice.

Put however much TIM you think you need, mount it. Then remove the heatsink to look underneath to see if you put the right amount.

Compensate for the amount you observed, clean everything up, reapply the TIM, and then mount the heatsink back on.

Since the cpu core is a rectangle, your dollop should be more on the long side instead of a dot.

Yes, paste is way way better than pads, but before you replace your pads, make sure the heatsinks actually touch.

Sometimes the gap the pad occupies is too large for paste to fill.

 

One method that looked good to me for a desktop CPU was to put 5 small dots on to the IHS like 5 dots on a side of dice. Then mount the heatsink on top of the CPU. This resulted in very even TIM distribution over the CPU.

 

The one thing that I see wrong with that, is that it would trap air bubbles in the Thermal paste.

 

i have bought inovative cooling: diamond (extreme performance).
The only thing i need now is a cleaning product, i've read about aceton (pure) and rubbing alcohol (99%).
The as cleaning kit seemed too overpriced and its most likely the same as rubbing alcohol.

My question: Where could i buy this 'rubbing alcohol' ? a mate told me in a pharmacy or hospital.. but im not quite sure about that..

And is it called isopropyl ....?

anyway, i'd like to add something:



These are my temps when undervolting, and putting my laptop near a window with alot of airflow.. (a bit to much maybe, but it works! ^____^)

Grtz~

EDIT:

I have opened up my laptop (backplate) unscrewed the heatsink which is on my cpu... but i couldn't get it loose. i might have missed or forgotten a few screws i don't know. When i was closing everything up again and tighten the screws from my heatsink, i tryd to put pressure on my cpu by screwing it really tight.

Now, i don't really know if this was a good idea, cause now my max temp has gone from 71 to 78-80 degrees.. How can i make sure this doesn't happen again? Or what did i do wrong?

Also i didn't see a heatspreader on my cpu: no metal shiny thing like desktop cpu's have.. How do i apply thermal paste onto it? and how can i fully unscrew my motherboard/heatsink?
acer aspire 5920G...

Please reply, i need this to be fixed fast! I don't want to fry my cpu for beeing stupid or clunsy...

 

Results of Arctic Cooing MX-2

Before (Arctic Silver 3) After (Arctic Cooling MX-2)

CPU Idle 40 36

CPU Load 75 61

GPU Idle 62 58

GPU Load 75 73

AS3 was cured; AC MX-2 required no curing time!

 

New pics added, could anyone help/explain to me? i'm pretty worried about the high temps

 

Been using AC MX-2 for the past 3 years, I'm still using the same tube


Works great, I've applied it about half a dozen times, well worth the $3!

 

Ok its good, we know it.. but what about my laptop?

 

It sounds like, from reading your previous post, the heatsink was being held onto the CPU be the surface tension of the TIM that is installed. The reason for the increased temps is that you probably got some air in between the CPU and heatsink, when you tried to pull it off. It does not take too much air to raise your temps. I would suggest removing the heatsink and apply the IC7. The screws on most mobile CPU heatsinks are numbered, for order of loosening/tightening, usually between 3 and 5. If you remove all the screws, it can still require a surprising amount of force to get the heatsink off. If you can twist the h/s back and forth a bit, that will help.
To clean the CPU h/s, use isopropyl 99% and something lint-free, like a coffee filter.
Go over the instructions on the Innovative Cooling website re: application. You do not spread it like Arctic Silver, but put a spot in the center on the chip.
I have had great results with IC7. Best of luck.